Improvement in tuning pianos



ends, and represented sloping, though this UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOIIN B. NORRIS, OF BERRYVILLE, VIRGINIA.

IMPROVEMENT 'IN TUNING PIANOS.

T 0 all whom, t may concer/L:

Be it known that I, JOHN B. NORRIS, of Berryville, in the county ofClarke and State of V`rgi nia, have invented and made certain new anduseful Improvements in the Manner or Mode of Timing Pianos and otherSimilar Musical Instruments; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description ot' the same, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification.

Figure l represents merely a simple soundin g-box with the sets ofstrings arranged thereon. Fig. 2 is designed merely to show or representthe manner ot inserting the wrestpins inclining to each other.

The nature of my improvements relates more especially to the tuning orgiving the required tension-draft to a continuous string hitched to pinsby each end and tightened or strained upto the required pitch by beingpassed around a grooved pulley or rotating` wheel of required size, sothat the two parallel lengths of the string forming the note of theinstrument are tuned up simultaneously or at one operation and put incomplete unison at one and the same time, as will be hereinatter morefully described.

In Fig. i, ad a represents the sounding-box, the tuning or pin blocks aiCL2, attached at the feature 0r sloping shape is not lmy invention.

At h b is indicated the sounding-board of the instrument.

At c c c c are indicated devices or appliances answering as bridges forthe strings ot the instrument to rest upon.

At d d, Figs. 1 and 2, are indicated the wrestpins,which in myimprovements are inserted into the bridge and wrest-blocks in a mannerso thatthe pins incline inwardly to each other.

At e e isindicated the draft-pin formed with any desired shape of headand with a suitable conical or tapering shank part thereon. rlhisdratt-pin e has a horizontal perforation through the head part formedwith a smooth interior, into which is tted a horizontal adjusting ortightening screw f f f f, to the front end of which is a slotted orsplit head g g, into which slot or split is fastened or coniined asuitable small grooved wheel or pul ley h 7L, held in place by an axleor fixed pin on which the grooved pulley turns or rotates.

In the application and use of my improvements a continuous or one lengthof string is passed around the grooved pulley 7L 71, and hitching-loopsbeing formed on the two eX- tremities ot the string, the said loops areslipped over the hitch pins I l and adjusted in, connected with thewrest-pins J JJJ, Fig. l, and stretched across from bridge to bridge inproper position, as indicated at K K K K. The screw end of thetightening-screw is passed through the hole or eye in the head part otthe draft-pin e e, and the nut L L is turned by a wrench-key, whichoperation draws up the screw f f g, with the grooved pulley 7.1 attachedthereto, and this operation of drawing up the screwff tightens the twolengths of the strings K K at one and the same time, and draws them upin unison and at the proper degree ottone or pitch. The draft-pin e,having its length or shank part tapering orslightly conically shaped, isdriven securely into the tuning-block of the instru` ment, and as it isnot moved in tuning, as in the usual or well-known mode of tuning-pinsthat are required to be moved or turned, theretore there is little or noliability to become loose. The tension or tightening screwffff may bemade or formed square or triangular sided, so as not to move or turn ortwist out of position. The grooved pulley 7L 7iv should be slightlylarger in diameter than the width or distance apart of the strings, sothat the strings will press out laterally right and lett against thepins J J J J.

It is essential that the tightening or tension screw f f be fittedthrough and made to work smoothly yet closely in the bore or opening ofthe head e, and should be set or arranged at right angle to the pin e c,and the draft or strain of the strings should be in a rectilinear orstraight direction-that is to say, the center ot the grooved pulley h hshould beso situated as to range directly in the center of the spacebetween the strings R R, Fig. l, and the hitch-pins I I', though thepins d d J JJ J may be varied in position right or left.

The manner or mode of .inserting the draftpins c c obliquelyinto thetuning-block is not my invention, but merely represented as alsoapplicable to my improvement.

I am are that a patent was granted to one George L. lVild September5,1854, for a mode of tuning one or more strings by means of ahorizontal tightening-screw, and in the pat ent of Hubert Schonacker,issued December 1S, 1855, a similar mode to IVilds is shown. There arealso patents of an anterior date, wherein strings are strain ed ortunedby means of horizontal screws. The very great and important differencebetween all such devices or modes and my improvements I will briey 'setforth.

In the patents referred to separate lengths of strings are hitched ontoor connected by their separate extremities to sliding blocks or tomovable nuts or connection-bars or hook devices or head part of a screw;but in my mode of tuning I use one continuous length of string and passit around the circumference of a movable turning or rotating groovedpulley h h, confining the two extremities of the string around thehitch-pins I I.

It is contended that by using a continuous length of string and passingit around the grooved pulley the strain or draft of the Whole length ofthe string is much more diffused, and consequently a greater degree ormore increased pitch of tension is brought about without endangering thestrength of the string. Besides, too, in using a moving surface for thestring to work over there is the least possibility of friction, chafing,or abrasion of the string, which would impair the quality of tone.Another advantage claimed as pertaining to the employment of a moving orrotating pullley is that in drawing up or tightening the string the twoparallel continuations K2 K2 must receive identically the same amount ofdraft or strain, and should there by any possibility be any defect ordifference of sound in the two continuations K2 K2 a perfect unisonoridentity of tone can be readily brought about by a pressure of thefingers on the imperfectly-sounding tone, by which operation the twoparallel lengths K2 K2 compensate with each other, the pressure thereonacting through the continuity of string. It is claimed, too, that bypassing the continuous lengthof stringaround the grooved pulley agreater degree of elasticity or tiexibility of tone is acquired than it'the strings were confined rigidly at both points of draftconnection.

It is contended that by my mode of tuning pianos greater facilityensues, as the two tones of the parallel length are brought in unisonsimultaneously in half the time usually required in the common systemsof turning pegs of pins, while the usual liability of the pins or pegsbecoming loose and the strings falling is overcome entirely.

Again, too, another most important feature pertaining to my improvementsis that when the strings do fall or sink or become flat the two parallellengths still maintain their unison property, and consequent-ly when outof tune with the other strings of the instrument the discord orimperfection in tone is not so marked or disagreeable to the ear of theperformer, for the two lengths fall or sink simultaneously and equallywith each other.

I am aware that in an old existinginvention a screw and pulley have beenused (but found not to answer the purpose) with a link or shortconnection passing around the pulley and attached to the head of a hook,over which hook the string of the instrument was passed or hitched to oraround it; but such devices, together with the ones employed by GeorgeL. lVild and Hubert Schonacker, I do not claim; but

That I do claim as new, and desire to have secured by Letters Patent ofthe United States, is-

rlhe manner or mode of tuning pianos,harps, and other similarinstruments by means of a grooved pulley h h in the end of an adjustingtightening-screw and draft-pin e e ff by combining and arranging saiddevices with a continuous string K K- K K passing around the pulley h7L, so that the point of contact and draft is in the center or middle ofthe string instead of at the extremities, and by which means thepressure or strain of the string is divided upon the center or middleand at both extremities where hitched, thus giving an equality of draftthroughout both parallel lengths K2 K2, and through all of which theparallel lengths K2 K2 are readily and most perfectly put in unison orturned to the required degree of unison or pitch or slackened, asdesired, substantially in the manner as set forth and4 described.

JOI-IN l. NORRIS. [Ls] Witnesses:

THOMAS H. CROW, RAND. KowNsTAR.

